PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Informal science laboratories are gaining increasing interest, with the basic idea to provide hands-on experiments that may facilitate motivation of young people for scientific problems. Science phenomena, which are often experienced in nature and everyday life, are subject of inspiring experiments which may be performed individually or in small, groups, under well-trained supervision, without the pressure and time limitations of a regular school day. One of the first hands-on science laboratories for children, high-school students and their teachers in Germany, the teutolab(1), was founded in 1999 at Bielefeld University, with a program in chemistry. Meanwhile, it has expanded to include chemistry activities at almost 30 regional schools in a cooperative teutolab-network, as well as sister laboratories in physics and mathematics. A spiral curriculum was developed for the laboratory work to address students of all grades, with an emphasis on age 9 to 19, and special hands-on training is available for current and future science teachers. Main subjects for experiments are devoted to natural and chemistry products, and to aspects of energy and the environment. The present article reports on a new activity designed to introduce high school students to the nano-dimension. With this nano-laboratory, a bridge is attempted between school experience and current high-technology subjects to initiate a dialogue between teachers, students and university researchers.